There’s a particular kind of confidence that comes from surviving over a decade in the industry’s pressure cooker, and 5 Seconds of Summer wear it loosely these days, like a badge they’ve finally decided looks good on them. Once the band who insisted they were absolutely not a boyband, the Australian four-piece are now embracing the label on their own terms. On their sixth album, ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’, they’re not just reclaiming the word – they’re redefining it, and doing so with full-blown, pink-limousine-level flair.
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The reinvention isn’t quiet. It arrives wrapped in gleaming satire and hyper-saturated aesthetics: glamorous outfits, tongue-in-cheek personas, and a pop-rock record that takes the mythology of “the boyband” and twists it into something knowingly chaotic. It’s exaggerated on purpose, a self-aware performance of stardom that lets them laugh at their own legacy while sharpening it at the same time. “Depending on where you go, some people will use the term boyband in a way that’s meant to be derogatory, and some will say it complimentary,” guitarist/vocalist Michael Clifford begins. “It really is a multi-faceted word that for a while, people would use towards us in a way that was meant to put us down,” he adds.
Clifford’s reflection sets the tone for just how self-aware and playful 5SOS have become. The band are not merely reclaiming a label, they’re interrogating it, changing it, and having a bit of fun along the way. “I think as we’ve had a longer career, and got more perspective on things, we’ve had a bit of realisation that it doesn’t have to be this dirty word if we don’t want it to be,” he notes. “It can be empowering, it can be something that we can embrace,” he notes. “You can’t offend us about something that we call ourselves anyway,” he exclaims. “Boyband and being a boyband doesn’t have to be a bad thing, it can be a positive,” he continues. “It’s just us having fun with it! It’s another thing that we do that not a lot of other bands can do,” he adds. “We’re pretty unique in the sense that we’re a rock band, a pop-punk band, a boyband, a pop band, an alternative band. We’re all these different things that in the end, it doesn’t really matter what label you put on it.”
Luke Hemmings, lead vocalist/guitarist, picks up, adding context to how this philosophy shapes their latest record ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’: “With this album, more than any of our albums in the past, it’s a conversation with the audience as opposed to just our stories. You know, a lot of these songs are our stories as a band, as a whole. So putting us in a box is us kind of taking the piss in a way. We’re putting ourselves out there as a product and creating these largest, most glamorised versions of ourselves as we come together as a band. It does relate to the lyrics, and to the concept of ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’ – songs like ‘Boyband’ and ‘No.1 Obsession’ poke fun at ourselves, and the industry, and how we have been perceived. We’re looking back on our whole career in a way.”
Having translated their decade-long experiences, evolving identities, and satirical take on pop-stardom into polished, genre-blending anthems, ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’ isn’t just a statement of intent – it’s a showcase of the band’s willingness to experiment, to lean into genres they’ve dabbled in before, and to explore themes that have simmered beneath the surface for
years. The result is a record that’s both self-aware and adventurous, reflecting their growth as musicians while keeping the energy and irreverence that first drew fans to them. “I think every album we’ve made is the perfect representation of our lives at those points, and I think we’re at the stage now where we’ve been a band for nearly 15 years, there’s topics on this album that we’ve never really approached before,” states bassist/vocalist Calum Hood. “Now, we’re at a place where we can articulate them in a way that does them justice for ourselves individually, and as a band. We’re talking about things that are new for us to talk about, but they have existed within our collective consciousness for a while.”
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Building on that, the band delves into how those themes and experiences shaped the actual sound of ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’. From concentrated bursts of writing to a deliberate mix of punk, pop, and electronic influences, 5SOS pushed themselves to explore uncharted territory while staying rooted in the energy that first defined them. “We came together for a few weeks at a time and had really concentrated periods of writing. The first one [song] to come together was ‘No.1 Obsession’. It felt like the first album but in such a wise and ironic way; that ‘No.1 Obsession’ title really stuck with us,” Hemmings begins. “That sort of set the bar for the whole album, so for the next few years on and off, we were writing to try and chase that,” he shares. We already know what it takes to get an album across the line at this age, it’s such a heavy lift for everyone because you want it to be something you can give months and months of your time to, and tour for a whole year on. Because of that, this had to be something that excites all of us,” he expands. “We just wanted to completely switch it up; it took a minute to figure out what that was,” he admits. “There were a lot of different influences, a lot of UK influences, and for me, it was The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, and The Streets. You know, using those sort of electronic artists and mixing it in with rock and punk, and figuring out what that should sound like in 2025 because we were a pop-punk band originally, so it was all about figuring out what we wanted to sound like now.”
The band’s wide-ranging influences come together on ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’, reflecting both curiosity and continuity in their sound. From nods to early 2000s alt-rock and pop, the Sydney-born quartet consciously explored textures and energy that felt fresh yet familiar. “It’s really cool when you start to hear influences people hear within the record because the ones you’ve named, Fontaines D.C. and Gorillaz, are such great bands. It’s a compliment when people say that,” Hood affirms, before adding that the record allowed them to lean into more of the spirit that defined 5SOS from the very beginning. “I don’t think we ever sat down together and were like, these [other bands] are our goal – it’s almost the goal to not try and do that,” he explains. “We definitely had a feeling that we wanted to lean a little bit more punk, especially with the vocabulary we were using and in the energy of the songs, but I really loved No Doubt and Fall Out Boy during this time. I kept going back to bands that had grooves in their songs, especially since our bands such a drum and bass heavy band, not so much in the genre but in instrumentation,” he elaborates. “Going back to what Luke was saying, we’ve always tried to stay curious and tried to evolve as a band whilst staying solid with our roots. It’s like what you said before, about it feeling like our old stuff, because the first album had such a specific energy to it and this one does have the same, just many years later.”
It’s clear that ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’ didn’t just challenge 5 Seconds of Summer musically, it reshaped them as collaborators too. With each member having explored their own creative lane through solo projects, this record marks the first time they’ve returned to the studio with fully formed individual identities and artistic perspectives. “We’ve learnt a lot about each other from listening to everyone’s solo work,” shares Hood. “You know, this is the first record that we’ve made together where every one of us has released a solo record, and that kind of informed us of a lot,” he continues. “Being able to really hear what each individual has to offer, from seeing how their campaigns have rolled out to the visuals, that’s been really informative for us because we’ve really been able to see where we have our individual strengths.”
Hood’s reflections on individuality and renewed understanding point toward another defining quality of ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’: its confidence. Even from the outside, the album radiates a self-assuredness that feels sharper, bolder, and more intentional than anything the band has released before. If 5SOS5 felt like a moment of clarity, this new era feels like a declaration; with that in mind, it’s impossible not to wonder what shifted within the group to produce a record that carries itself with such conviction. “The birthplace of our confidence is in our resilience to survive as a band, but in a truthful way, a passionate way for what we make,” drummer/vocalist Ashton Irwin immediately shares. “For me personally, every album gets harder and harder,” he opens up. “It never gets easier to make because times change, technology changes, politics change, and the world just totally shifts around you. It’s shifting all the time and to choose what to make intentionally in the world we exist in at this point is so different to every other album we’ve made,” he elaborates. “I think the more intelligent you become as you age, you realise there’s an infinite amount of times to hit a bullseye, and that’s why you get more confident, because you get more intentional.”
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With a catalogue that spans pop-punk adolescence, alt-pop experimentation, and ambitious self-production, 5SOS have long grappled with the question of what, exactly, defines them. Yet ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’ feels particularly pointed in its self-definition, both musically and conceptually. It raises a natural follow-up: does the band see this album as their clearest, most unmistakable expression of who they are? “I hope so,” the band says in unison, no hesitation whatsoever. “That really is the goal with every album for us,” Hemmings takes over. “I don’t know if it’s delusion but this really does feel like the one that is the most identifiable,” he laughs. “It feels like ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’ is something only we could put out, similar to our first album. That was just completely 5SOS, and I don’t know what that is, whether that’s going to become an adjective at some point, but it’s what it feels like.”
Beyond the studio, 5 Seconds of Summer have brought ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’ to life with one-of-a-kind promotional stunts. From pink limousines to last-minute pop-ups, cryptic posters, and even posing as mannequins in a shop window, the band have blurred the lines between album concept and real-world spectacle. Yet these moments didn’t emerge from randomness – they grew directly out of the album’s themes and the relationship they’ve rebuilt with fans throughout the years. “They start as ideas in meetings that relate to the concepts of the lyrics and the name of the album,” Hemmings shares. “They relate to how we want to build out the crazy, manic world that is ‘EVERYONE’S A STAR!’, and then somehow they just come to life through our amazing team,” he states, his gratitude for the team working alongside them clear. “They started out as things that we didn’t think we could pull off but then we did. The limo was the easiest part of the puzzle, it was playing in a box and shutting down streets that felt impossible,” he laughs before Hood steps, highlighting just how central their fans are to all of this. “The way that people are over here [in the UK] kind of astonishes us,” he admits. “We’re astonished that people still turn out for us and we feel like we’re in a really lucky position,” he continues. “You know, this is our second birth place and the band really learned how to hone our craft, especially in songwriting and playing live, here,” he reflects. “It feels amazing, honestly, and I think this album has been really rejuvenating for us and probably for the fan base as well. It feels really fresh, fun, and exciting, so everything has been great!”
The band’s ability to blend genres so seamlessly stems from an instinctive understanding of how their music moves, shifts, and breathes in a live setting. Known for fluid transitions, like the much-loved ‘Easier’ into ‘More’, 5SOS carry that same philosophy into the studio, building new songs with the stage already in mind. “We make sure that the songs are built to come alive on stage by preparing through experience,” Irwin states. “The more music we play live, the more we realise what works and what doesn’t work, subjectively,” he adds. “Sometimes there’s a lot of emotion attached to a song that might not be great live from a listener’s point of view, but from a band’s point of view, we might feel a certain energy to it.” Over time, they’ve learned what really works live, shaping each song around its energy and connection with the audience – something that becomes even clearer when they’re creating music that doesn’t fit neatly into one genre. “There’s a flow when you’re playing the music and, just through experiencing that, you realise what to make and what not to make, especially when you’re making something that isn’t intentionally contemporary music,” Irwin continues. “It’s not necessarily progressive rock, but it’s not necessarily pop, and because of all the different branches, we purely rely on emotion,” he elaborates. Those live experiences become a compass, guiding what to create and what to refine. “We make music with the intention of it being amazing live, and the better we get live, the more we know what to do when we go into the studio,” Irwin proclaims. “I think ‘No.1 Obsession’ is a really good example of the hybrid of what we do live and in the studio, and that goal transcends the rest of the album,” he tells us. “We feel like we’ve finally made an album that captures what we do live, and in the studio, having them meet in the middle with our desires and intentions for what we want to achieve as artists.”
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All of it feels like a world in motion – an era unfolding with purpose, each release adding momentum to something larger taking shape. That energy naturally builds toward the next leap fans have been waiting for: the 2026 tour. It’s here that the EVERYONE’S A STAR! universe will burst beyond the studio and into live arenas, transforming concept into vision and translating the album’s emotional core into a shared, immersive experience. For 5 Seconds of Summer, it marks the moment these ideas come fully alive on stage – a chance to expand the blueprint laid down on The 5SOS Show, connect with fans on an entirely new level, and showcase the confidence and creative ambition driving this chapter of their career. “We actually have longer to plan and sort of conceptualise the show compared to the time we had for The 5SOS Show,” Clifford proclaims. “We were a little bit more rushed for The 5SOS Show whereas now, we definitely have some ideas already for Everyone’s A Star,” he adds. “The 5SOS Show was a blueprint of what we can do, and now we get to expand on that; for anyone that reads this, our next tour will be a step up and an evolution,” he exclaims. “Kidding, it will be a big step down,” he doubles back with a laugh, instantly setting the rest of the band off. “We’ve been looking for some staple things, some spinning lights behind us maybe for Amnesia,” Hemmings cuts in with a grin. “Maybe just a curtain behind us,” pitches Hood, the room still caught up in laughter. “On a real note, we’ve been looking for some bits for the stage, similar to our last tour where we had the dice and the sauce. The idea is to take those good bits and make them bigger,” Hemmings brings the focus back. “It’s funny because pressure creates diamonds,” Irwin reflects. “Sometimes when you have too much time to complete something, it can actually ruin it. We would be blessed to have an extra week or two on the next one,” he laughs. “You know, we’re trying to pull off these ideas that make people come to our shows not just for the music, but for the show it evolves into.”
If The 5SOS Show felt like a masterclass in live energy despite its rushed timeline, fans can only imagine what the band will achieve with more breathing room, especially as they’re already thinking about how to translate the new record to the stage. “I think we’ll play at least half of the album,” Irwin confidently puts out. “It’s part of our staple sound. We’re going to be confident,” he exclaims. And while some tracks may eventually be retired, the band agree that songs can regain their spark. “A great example of that is, for me, recently I’ve really been wanting to play ‘Try Hard’ again. I don’t know why. It just kind of feels right,” he exclusively tells us. “The times are changing, and that’s the amazing thing about having lots of music out,” he notes. “We have so many songs out at this point that we have an awesome bank of tracks to choose from.”
With that in mind, the EVERYONE’S A STAR! tour is set to be more than just a show. It’s a fully realised live vision, a chance for 5 Seconds of Summer to transform the album’s energy into an immersive, shared experience. Song by song, the band will draw fans deeper into the world they’ve created, proving once again why their live performances are as essential to the 5SOS experience as the music itself. And it’s precisely this constant evolution – switching up styles, experimenting on stage, and reimagining old and new material – that has given the band the kind of longevity few bands can achieve, keeping their music fresh and their audience invested year after year.
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‘EVERYONE’S STAR!’ is out now. For all 5 Seconds Of Summer tour news visit their official site.
Words: Shannon Garner
Photo Credit: Brian Ziff
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